Saturday, May 21, 2011

A "Way" Old School Fort

This summer I have resolved among other things, to empty out a storage space that I rent outside of town...my wife will be the happier for it and it will free up some money to make ends meet. So in the process, it's giving me some really nice "re-discovery" moments. This latest is a old fortress made of "particle board" that I bought from a great friend in my first year of college...a fellow named Bob Wehr...I lost track of him, but his fort lives on!

I remember I paid 100 USD for the fort and it served for many years in my basement where I lived with my parents...way back in 1975... It got a refurbish and a repaint in the mid-nineties but has been in storage since until just last week. I thought it would make a good addition to my 20mm colonials project.

It needs some repair, but my son and I set it up last week just to have a look.


20mm Jacklex Highlanders man the parapet

The fort has definitely "old school" feel and I think it will serve nicely for those "marching out of Kohat" pics that I so fondly remember from Don Featherstone's "Solo Wargaming" book. The fort is in individual sections that can be recombined in different ways and it includes a "breach" section (not shown)...I remember Bob, who had great ideas about gaming innovation...talking about terrain that could be varied for the battle at hand...and I think he actually had the idea for "hex shaped battlefield tiles" back in 1975 (he even wanted me to skip college and go into business producing gaming terrain)...way before it was done by GHQ and later Hexon... I can only hope Bob found his "pot of gold" in life...but he sure did give a young lad, such as I, much inspiration!

I'll be repairing and refurbishing it in the coming weeks so stay tuned...
My son, (the hand in the pics...) is already obsessed... But it's the good kind of obsession!

9 comments:

Fitz-Badger said...

That's actually pretty cool! I could see why your son is obsessed.

tradgardmastare said...

Excellent fort which will give plenty more gaming service I am sure!

Beccas said...

That's a great looking fort. Wish I had one like that.

Mosstrooper said...

Nice looking fort !

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

You know I was just thinking of those pictures in "Solo Wargaming" just before you mentioned it... it would like right at home somewhere on the border of India/Afghanistan as the subject of a punitive expedition...

Paul O'G said...

Bravo - nostalgia, utility and aesthetics all rolled into one!

Paul´s Bods said...

I too like the look of that fort...it´s got a great deal of charm and looks intensively practical.
Cheers
Paul

abdul666 said...

A great rediscovery!

tidders2 said...

Now thats a fort ! I'm sure there's many years of playtime left in it

-- Allan